Soledad police make an arrest in double homicide case

Soledad police made a surprise arrest on Wednesday in connection with a triple shooting at a shopping center that left two King City parents dead and their teenage son wounded.

Jorge Angel Rodriguez, 19, of Soledad, was charged with gang activity and two counts of homicide.

Police say Maria del Refugio Monroy, 55, and Silverio Perez Selendon, 58, were not the intended targets when they were hit by shots in the parking lot of the Foods Co. grocery store late Sept. 26.

They both died, while the target — their 19-year-old son — survived.

Police say the youth, who they describe a gang member, underwent surgery and has been released from a San Francisco Bay Area hospital. The family had just finished shopping, witnesses said, when someone in a hooded sweatshirt walked up to their car, fired numerous shots and ran away.

A parking lot video camera caught sight of a light-colored, four-door Volkswagen Jetta leaving the scene. No arrests were made until this week.

Rodriguez wasn't a suspect until Wednesday, when officers made a surprising discovery during a probation search of his residence in connection with another case, police Chief Eric Sills said.

Rodriguez was known to police as an active gang member and was previously charged with possession of a loaded firearm, Sills said.

About 8:20 a.m., Soledad and Greenfield police detectives went to Rodriguez's residence in the 400 block of San Diego Place in Soledad for a search related to a recent Greenfield crime.

They found a 1996 pale gold Volkswagen Jetta at the residence and realized it was the type of car in the double homicide video, Sills said.

Sills, who is chief to the police departments in Soledad and Greenfield, said it was helpful detectives who worked the homicides were the ones at the residence.

"It was good to have that familiarity," Sills said. "They immediately recognized the car as a look-alike."

Rodriguez was arrested on a probation violation and officers quickly reviewed the video from the murder scene. They found "distinctive damage" to the car at San Diego Place that matched the Jetta in the video.

"There it was, bingo!" Sill said. "It was a very exciting moment."

Sills said that as evidence goes, the match was "almost like the classic ransom note from the defective typewriter."

Officers put together a photo lineup of suspects that included Rodriguez and said witnesses identified him as being involved.

Sills declined to say whether he is suspected of being the gunman, saying there are "other suspects we want to work on."

Police said Rodriguez and the 19-year-old victim are from opposing gangs, and said the case appears to be one involving gang rivalry.

Detectives don't believe the double slaying is connected to a series of murders in Soledad, targeting older Norteño gang defectors, thought to have been ordered by Nuestra Familia leaders in the area.

Sills said police are seeking information from the public about Rodriguez and the shooting.